Best Practices

Report: Significant Lack of Coordination in Post-Acute Care

Post-acute care is the missing link when it comes to quality care coordination, according to a report published by the NEJM Catalyst Insights Council.

Only 7% of the 375 health care professionals surveyed reported that their organizations’ patient care was “fully coordinated” from inpatient to post-discharge and in-home care. Further, more than half of respondents said that patients’ pathways were “somewhat coordinated.”

Post-acute care is a crucial part of the recovery process. Quality coordination reduces the rate of readmissions and ensures that patients are not put at further risk.

The report’s authors stated:

For many patients, the post-acute setting is a critical part of their care trajectory. As this market grows, we in health care must make sure it does so in a patient-centered manner, without exploding the total cost of care. To move from 7% to 70% of patients receiving fully coordinated care, we must align incentives among primary care, post-acute, and inpatient providers.